Urinary albumin excretion as a marker of endothelial dysfunction in migraine sufferers: the HUNT study, Norway

OBJECTIVE To investigate urine albumin leakage as a marker of endothelial dysfunction in migraine patients. DESIGN A population-based health study. PARTICIPANTS 303 patients with migraine, 1009 patients with non-migraine headache and 5287 headache-free controls. OUTCOMES The association between urine albumin- to-creatine ratio (ACR) and headache status was investigated in the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT-2). Patients were selected in two strata, based on either (1) self-reported hypertension/diabetes (morbid sample) or (2) a random sample. Analyses were performed using analysis of covariance. RESULTS There was no association between headache status and ACR in the study population (p=0.23, mean ACR for migraine 1.66, 95% CI 1.31 to 2.01, for non-migraine headache 1.90, 95% CI 1.71 to 2.09 and for no headache 1.73, 95% CI 1.64 to 1.81) after relevant adjustments. Similarly, no association between headache status and ACR was seen when the analysis was stratified for morbid and random samples, or for migraine with and without aura. CONCLUSIONS We found no evidence of increased urine albumin leakage in migraine sufferers when compared with headache-free controls. This could indicate that systemic endothelial dysfunction is not a prominent feature of migraine.